


The Invitation

by muse_of_mbaku



Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: F/M, Halloween, Original Character of Color, PoC, Smut, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2019-07-27 09:45:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16216481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muse_of_mbaku/pseuds/muse_of_mbaku
Summary: A little Vampire and M'Baku story inspired by a post on my Tumblr dashboard.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Recommended Listening: Ligeti: Requiem: I Introitus by Gyoegy Ligeti
> 
> A/N: Oni (Born on holy ground, blessed place, Yorba)

Some roads in Jabariland, thick with vegetation and coated in ice, were the quickest route up and down the mountain. This road, one M’Baku had driven time and again, was one of those. The stretch started flush with the ground around it, the trees and snow kept at bay until it thinned to near choking, just enough space for one car to make a lone trek to the private hunting lodge of the clan. This night, settled into the backseat of a truck made for the treacherous journey, M’Baku stared in boredom out of the window into the darkness. Seasonal rituals made this trip necessary, but responsibilities back in the city center called him with more passion.

The bulk of his body jolted upward, the brace of his hand against the ceiling the only thing keeping him from hitting his head.

“My apologies, sir. This road seems to have taken an even harder turn for the worse since our last traverse.” The driver’s eyes caught M’Baku’s in the rearview mirror. He raised his eyebrows in apology.

“No need for the apology. This road is nothing new. Just take it slowly. They will wait for however long it takes for us to arrive,” M’Baku offered, tapping at the phone in his hand. He growled when the signal bar dropped from five to two and the document loading on his screen refused to manifest. He hit refresh, hoping it was only a temporary drop in connection. No luck. Locking the device, M’Baku threw it onto the seat beside him, diverting his attention back into the wilderness around him.

Somewhere in the distance he caught a split second of movement. It was fleeting, not a quick pass to be expected of an animal seeking safety or shelter in the night. This movement had been like a wisp across the expanse of unmarked snow buffering the road on both sides. He glanced briefly to see if the driver had noticed, but the man’s hands were locked onto the steering wheel and his gaze was focused on the dirt and gravel illuminated by the headlights. Thinking better of it, M’Baku pressed his words back into his mouth.

Ahead, just to the left of the truck, the headlights caught a sliver of something metallic, its glare bouncing into M’Baku’s eyes and turning everything white for the briefest of moments. The car traveled on. Shifting his body to see what they’d passed, M’Baku again saw the languid movement of something. This time it was more solid, but still just a blur across his vision.

“Did you see that?” he questioned as he righted himself in the seat.

“I beg your pardon, my lord?”

“Did you see that? The reflection we just passed.”

“I can’t say that I did, sir. Would you like me to stop to investigate?”

M’Baku raised his palm and shook his head. “No. That’s quite alright. It was probably just the headlights on some ice. We’ll carry on.”

The chirp of the phone next to him broke his worry and he gathered it into his hand. His document, and a flurry of messages filled the screen, and he lost himself for several moments. The telltale sound of a tire puncturing followed by the hiss of air escaping broke out across the night. M’Baku heard the driver begin a string of curses that he quickly checked.

“It appears we’ve blown a tire, your highness. It should not take long to affix the spare. Remain here.”

M’Baku’s offers to aid the driver went unheard. He was well aware of what protocol demanded. He was a royal and royals were to be protected. To some a driver may simply be a driver, but M’Baku knew the man now rooting around in the raised back compartment of the vehicle was as deadly as they came.

“I’ve kept the engine running, sir. We’ll be on our way in a few moments,” he promised with a resounding slam of the raised hatch door.

M’Baku settled in, his long legs spread and braced in front of him. Shooting off a few quick messages, he for a third time caught the sight of something, now he knew someone, in the headlights of the car. She stood with arms akimbo, braced on shapely hips much to bare for the freeze of the mountains.M’Baku felt as if she was moving, but his eyes told him she was not. His mind told him that her arms were gracefully set as if she was dancing, a crimson sheer covering her face like a veil.

It told him that fangs glinted in the night. Those same thoughts made a surge of fear, or something like lust, course through his blood. It made him tremble as her tongue darted out to lick the sharp point of one canine before a throaty laugh echoed across the plains. M’Baku’s palms itched, ached to touch her in a way he didn’t understand. He wanted to look away, but couldn’t. The brightness of the headlights flickered then dimmed. M’Baku sat up fully in his seat as a slow smile broke across the dark woman in front of him.

He could feel her, slow and hot, inside of him. Like she was waiting to burst from his chest and consume him. He felt himself rise, his thoughts now filled with images of her body tangled with his. Everything red and lazy. He wanted her.

_May I come in?_

The voice was dulcet, seductive in a refined way that made sexy obsolete.

_All you have to do is invite me in._

M’Baku flushed, all the blood in his body seemingly rushing to thicken his sex at her simple request. What wonders would be in store if he simply allowed it? He shifted in his seat, aching to get comfortable, wanting release.

_Do you want me?_

He wanted tell her yes, but words would not form. He watched her deftly flay open the trench coat framing her body. Skin the color of the sky seemed to be poured into an intricate web of lace. He could make out the swelling rise of her chest, the poke of belly, the thickness of hips and ass he’d beg to simply be in the shadow of.

“Yes.”

She started towards him, a saunter that reminded him of those earlier flashes of movement. She crawled onto the hood and in blink of an eye, M’Baku felt the weight of something warm in his lap. Her, studying him with curiously amber eyes, made him want the world to disappear.

_So very simple, correct? Now we have all the time in the world._

M’Baku braced his hands against her hips, his fingertips sinking into the soft flesh. His mouth sought the crux of her shoulder to lick and suck. She tasted like wine, heady and sweet. Her dark chuckle did not register in his ears as he sank his teeth into her flesh. Something primal in him wanted to mark her, to claim her before another could. His hands gripped the edge of the scraps of lace covering her, rending them from her body. He was hypnotized by the solid drop of her breasts, heavy and inviting. His tongue and lips sought them, latched on as if they were the last source of life on Earth. She arched against him, a hand between them freeing his member a fraction of time before she sank down onto him.

M’Baku hissed, the sudden clutch of her sex around him forcing his hips to buck upwards and into her. She started a carousel with her body, pressing down as he pumped upwards. Somewhere in his head he heard his driver’s voice call his name, then the sound of a snap and the gurgle of blood.

_I do not wish to be disturbed._

The growl of her anger excited M’Baku. He watched her eyes shift from amber to red, felt her pull over him grow larger. Instinct made him want to protect her. That knowledge seemed as old as time. He would kill for her.

_And I for you._

She’d read his mind? Or had he said that aloud. M’Baku did not care. All that mattered, as the snow just outside the truck drank the blood of his loyal servant, was finding a way to bury himself more deeply into her. He slid his hips across the leather to get more leverage, the curve of him jolting her into a hiss that bared her fangs.

_I may just keep you. Would you like that?_

M’Baku grunted out affirmation.

_That means you shall belong to me. Is this what you wish?_

He slammed her down onto him, holding her still and feeling his power reverberating though her.

_You will answer to me. Bend to my will. You shall have immense power. Greater what you believe you wield now. Does this please you?_

“It pleases me, mistress.” The title dripping from his lips seemed natural. “I belong to you if you shall have me.”

Her teeth sank into his neck, arching his back from the seat as she drank from him. M’Baku’s thrusts did not slow, instead they strengthened, hammering into her. Warmth seemed to leave him, replaced by a chill that seemed as if it belonged. Gripping her hips more tightly, he cried out as his seed spilled inside her.

_Oni. You, my pet, may call me Oni. Welcome to forever._


	2. The Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended Listening: Ligeti: Chamber Concerto: II Calm, sostenuto and Ligeti: Piano Concerto: II Lento e deserto
> 
> A/N: Isabis is my version of the Jabari ancestral plane

Miles moved beneath the truck at an achingly slow pace. Or at least it seemed to be as such to M’Baku. Beside him, Oni was still. Her gaze focused beyond the windshield and into the dimmed stretch of road ahead of them. Her mouth, full lips burgundy and inviting, was unmoving, but M’Baku could hear something like music emitting from the air around her. He wanted to hum along, but at the first vibration formed in his throat he saw the sharp movement of her head. 

_Silence._

The word, seemingly beamed from her mind into his, was not hard. It was soft, as her hands had been on his skin. Yet M’Baku knew she would have her silence one way or the other. He wasn’t willing to shorten his forever by testing her. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and focused again on the road. Snow had begun to drift from the inky sky, piling along the path and on it so thickly that he said a quick prayer to Hanuman for safe passage. 

_There shall be no gods before me. Is that understood?_

His mind was no longer his own, no longer a place he could retreat. 

“It is understood, mistress.” 

A slim hand glided down his cheek. His eyes closed for an instant. Her acceptance, her praise, was all he craved. 

_I am glad. We shall press forward._

M’Baku moved them deeper into Jabariland, towards the lodge full of those awaiting their king. 

_Their king now serves his queen. And she requires sacrifice. She requires blood._

Flashes of red, of blood and death and screams shot across his vision. Sacrifices had to be made for forever. It only made sense. M’Baku nodded, feeling as if he’d lived this life before. He felt no fear nor remorse at what was to come. What Oni demanded he was willing to give. What lives to be snuffed from existence or souls sent to Isabis were of no importance. Oni was the only flame. Ahead, the amber glow of the cabin cast a small halo of light into the midnight around it. He counted three vehicles. 

_There are six. Six lives to send to glory. They shall die so we shall live._

M’Baku listened to her words like scripture, the absoluteness of her statements giving him the reassurance he needed. These men would die with honor.

_I shall tell you of me. I can feel your curiosity, my pet._

Her hand gripped his thigh, her fingers curling along its bulk and settling near his inseam. He felt a flash of heat among the chill in his blood that now seemed like it had always been. 

_Long ago, when the mountains were an uncharted wilderness most from the valley refused to acknowledge, I had been a girl cobbled together by the freedom their ignorance allowed. In the map of my mind were but few measures of my homeland that had escaped my keen sight. Even less of a mystery to me were the inner workings of my coven. I had been curious, able to amble freely among the world at the hips and heels of my mother and our people._

Her fingers inched forward, the crux of her knuckles grazing across the heavy fabric of his pants. M’Baku hissed and tried to stop from bucking towards the contact. Deep in his brain he heard the lilting sound of Oni’s laughter. It echoed a moment before her palm settled over the thickness now straining against confinement. 

_What my mother taught me about power, about strength, was that it was to be used with an even hand. True power does not come from the exertion of position over those under your purview. It comes from simply offering choices and letting the world form as it will._

M’Baku groaned as the rasp of his zipper replaced the sound of her laughter in the actual silence of the vehicle’s interior. All in my head. All in my head. Something in him felt the urge to fight. The silk of Oni’s hand against his sex halted that desire and replaced it with another. With a flick of her thumb across the tip and a languid pass of her palm, she brought him back to her. 

_I watched my mother rule with a steady hand, a benevolent queen with low tolerance for disrespect. Under her tutelage, I immersed myself in the art of this eternal life, knew never to compromise who and what I was unless the coven was to directly benefit. Coven is always first. We take precedence._

There was the quickening of her hand against him just as his tightened against the steering wheel to keep them on a straight path. M’Baku pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and lost himself in the friction of her palm. It pulsed against him, relaxing and gripping as it moved the length of him. He bucked into the pleasure and felt the slide of Oni get easier the more he hardened. 

_When I was a girl, the Golden City was not golden. It was simply a faraway land full of people who had no real sense of family by the definitions I knew. But with the opening of the world, first from the passing of my mother and then my ascension to the throne, I was no longer sure our shared definition of freedom was the correct path forward. So, they killed me. Those golden children safe in their valley took my life to protect their own, sent me on to the ancestors._

M’Baku felt a surge of rage at the mention of her harm. Oni cooed and stroked faster. The undulation of her movements pulled him to the cusp. When she stopped, his eyes shot to hers. The amber glow of her pupils danced like fire. 

_Isabis was beautiful. Yet, as with all life, darkness edges the world. In those edges is where I brewed in my own anger until I was offered a chance to return, a chance at forever. But, alas my pet, that was many lifetimes ago, and the world has changed. You shall help me return to my rightful place as a queen with all the world at my feet._

He fell apart in her hands, pushing an animalistic growl from his depths along with a burst of seed that coated her hand and settled between her fingers. She lapped at her skin, some measure of a rueful smile spreading across her lips. She looked satisfied, but far from sated. In his awe of his mistress, M’Baku noted the rapid rise and fall of his chest as he struggled to catch his breath was not matched by hers. For the first time he noticed the complete stillness of her.

_Would it make you more comfortable if I pretended to be human?_

M’Baku brought the truck to a stop at the end of the driveway. He cut the engine and remained seated, awaiting instruction from Oni. She wisped into nothing at the corner of his eye and came back to the world atop his lap, her chest leaned into the steering wheel. 

_A child. I require a child and a throne. You shall provide those, my pet?_

“I shall provide what my mistress requires. She only has to ask.” His voice did not sound like his own. It was thicker, the words seemed ancient in a way that confused him.

Oni ground her hips against him, taking his member into her without hand nor help. M’Baku felt his body was not his own. It belonged to her, for her pleasure and plan. He was afraid to touch her, but ached to. No longer able to resist, he planted each of his large hands on her hips and marveled at the lightening streaking across the hills of her flesh. Tattoos along her spine seemed to glow, almost 3D pulsing from her skin. He found himself hypnotized by her rise and fall. With each absence of her against his lap the world felt colder, when she returned the world glowed red. 

M’Baku wanted to hear her. He wanted to know that he stretched and filled her in ways that were pleasing. He thrust into her, testing just how hard she could take him. Silence. He tightened his grip on her hips and bounced her onto him. The beginnings of sweat broke out across his brow, his chest rumbled with curses and growls. Still silence.

One large hand snaked her neck, cutting off the air he knew she wasn’t breathing. Instinct is hard to forget. Lust clouds things. 

_I cannot be dominated, my love, but I shall take your seed._

M’Baku nearly screamed at the clutch of her walls around him. He stroked into her as if his life depended upon it. It did depend upon it. He let her dominate him, watched the infinity of her body moving atop his until he had no choice but to release deeply into her and give her exactly what she wanted. 

***  
M’Baku glanced over his shoulder at Oni. She stood in the doorway, the faint light from behind her making her even more of a specter. Even more of a silhouette of destruction. Her arms were braced against her body, one hip lifted in a show of dominance. A flick of her hand sent him more deeply into the room. 

_They hide because they know not what glory awaits them on the other side. Bring them to me._

M’Baku bristled, hesitated though it would bring anger. Oni seemed to glide to him. Her hand cupped his cheek and he melted into her touch.

_Do not fret, my love. You shall remain my lover for eternity. The others are simply tools. Now go._

There was an edge to her final words that unsettled him. He pressed into the lodge, latching onto the scent of fear and the shaky breathing that seemed to be amplified in his ears. His senses seemed new, worlds better than before. He found the first crouched behind a pile of furs drying and partially tanned. He gripped the scuff of the man’s neck, brought a crushing blow across his jaw and went to collect the next when the man collapsed into darkness. The catches were easy and before long the line of men at Oni’s feet seemed a feast she’d been starving for. 

_Such good work, my pet. I shall reward you once we are complete._

A dagger, both brightly gold and ancient at the same time, dangled from her fingers. It seemed in danger of falling from her grasp at any moment. Oni moved slowly towards him. 

_I have given you forever, have I not?_

He could not break the contact of their eyes. He nodded. The weight of the dagger pressed into his palm. He tested the heft of it and found it more substantial than it seemed in her grip. It was warm and seemed to belong there. 

_Your body remembers. One day, I shall tell you the story of us. Time is simply an obstacle. Love is eternal._

M’Baku shifted the dagger from hand to hand until it settled into his grasp like second nature. He thrust a few times into the air, his spirit already knowing what needed to be done. He stepped forward and received the taste of Oni’s mouth, the weight of her body seeming to meld into his. She’d invaded him, shifted the parts of himself he thought were concrete and made room for lust and rage he hadn’t known possible. 

_I’m hungry, my pet. I shall not drain you. You are much too important. Leave me two, my love. They are needed._

She moved back to the doorway, back to the shadows. M’Baku crouched before the first of the six souls waiting to be set free. 

“This is not a declaration of how you lived. It is a reward for being worthy,” he chanted to each man before the gold of the blade turned crimson. 

_A sacrifice was required. A sacrifice was delivered._

His Oni was pleased. He felt pride swell in his chest. This was his life now. One of devotion and service. One of deference to the entity now collecting blood like fresh blooms, a song coming from her unmoving lips.


	3. The Inception

_Do you remember me?_

M’Baku’s eyes raised from the blood swirling in the sink, leaving his hands in thin ribbons of death. The porcelain seemed to drink then release the sins of the evening. He’d felt the slow drip of violence on his fingers as he’d made his way through the carnage to the tiny lavatory at the back of the cabin. M’Baku had refused to meet his own eyes in the mirror. Even in the far reaches of the cabin he could hear Oni singing. The words were ancient, the melody familiar. M’Baku caught the rhythm of his hands sloshing water in time with her notes. For the briefest of moments he felt off kilter. It was only a kernel of shame, but it was there no matter how much he tried to tamp it down. Something, dark and light all at once, made him lift his gaze until it collided with the one thing he both loved and feared for reasons he could not discern. 

He met Oni’s eyes in the mirror. She filled the doorway with her presence. It was intimidating and alluring at the same time. He finished the task at hand without breaking eye contact. When he turned, she’d come closer, her hip propped against the doorjamb. The sway of fabric, a black wisp of gauze covering the hills and valleys of her body, seemed to move of its own volition. M’Baku wasn’t quite convinced he would ever get used to the otherworldliness of her. He passed the roughness of a well-worn towel over his hands and turned fully to the woman. Or was she a ghost? Whatever she may be, his body relaxed at the sight before him. 

_I am many things _, he heard drift into his thoughts._ _

__

__

__“Beyond this evening? I do not remember you,” he confessed. “You feel familiar.”_ _

__The lilt of her laugh filled the bathroom, echoed off the tiles. _Familiar is not even a whisper of what we were to each other, love.__ _

__She pushed from the doorway and stepped into the shadow of his body. Even with her gazing up at him, M’Baku felt the power shift to her favor. Oni gathered his hands into hers and studied them. She brought them to her face and rubbed the roughness of them across her skin. Her eyes closed in what M’Baku could only assume was pleasure. The warmth of her tongue circled the web between his thumb and index. A shiver rocketed through him._ _

___Only cleaning what remains_ , she remarked as she brought his hands back to her cheek. Do you know just how old of a fable we are?_ _

__M’Baku shook his head weakly. Oni’s hands tickled the inside of his palm briefly before letting his hands drop without warning. He dared not move._ _

___We are older than the foundation on which we stand. Older than the road that brought us to this doorstep. Far older than the great halls in which you roamed. We, beloved, have been here almost as long as the sun has been in the sky._ _ _

__Her hands mapped the armor plated across his chest, the rise of fur on his shoulders, and the patchwork of leather peeking between the two._ _

___No matter how we are disguised we always find our way back to one another. In another life you would remember me as a servant in your chambers. One who both pleasured you and took a dagger to save your life._ _ _

__Oni’s hand left their exploration of his clothing. Something sinister filtered into her eyes._ _

___Do you remember when you died for me? Facing bayonets and bullets as I grew smaller and smaller over the horizon?_ _ _

__M’Baku felt his heart stir. A flash of a blue sky and the smell or gunpowder. The frantic yells of Witch! And then nothing. The tick of his jaw brought a slow smile to Oni’s face._ _

___You remember? The fog will lift, my pet, and it will be glorious. Come. We have a nation to claim._ _ _

__She held one hand aloft in the space between their bodies. Energy vibrated and arced like a current. The softness of her hand beneath his was enough to pull M’Baku back into his own head and his own memories._ _

__“They called you witch. Pulled you from our bed at the beginning of morning…”_ _

__Oni tutted and nodded in affirmation. _That is only a tiny measure of our deaths and rebirths. Go on.__ _

__“I fought them. All of them as they came until we were overwhelmed.”_ _

___And then you saved me. Allowed your blood to be spilled so mine could continue on into the next lifetime._ _ _

__“I killed for you.” It was a statement of fact and a promise. Nothing in his spirit told him he wouldn’t do it again._ _

___And I for you. I long for the day you remember all of our lifetimes. The sacrifices we made to get to this very moment._ _ _

__“They didn’t understand you. Not like me…” The words lingered. M’Baku felt stuck between past and present. Oni seemed to grow larger, the hum of her buzzing in his ears. Her skin glowing it seemed._ _

__M’Baku pressed forward until Oni was captured between his body and the wall. He reveled in the power she allowed him if only for a moment. This time it was his hand that came to trace the blackness covering her frame, the slant of her cheekbones, and the silent column of her neck. He stared at her for what seemed like eternity, willing himself to remember her. He wanted to remember. Needed to remember. If only to clear the fog of his mind to understand even a fraction of the sway she held over him._ _

___We have not always been these bodies. We are simply old souls seeking a home, seeking our calling. These lives have put us here on the cusp of fulfilling all that we are destined for. Our rightful place. All you have to do is remember and the world will cower._ _ _

__M’Baku felt the pull in his gut, his mind and body aching to connect with Oni in ways that made little sense. He knew something in his blood was simmering to boiling. His hands itched to tear down the walls in his mind. Power, the kind she offered, seemed intoxicating. And he wanted it. That kernel of shame was getting harder and harder to find. It was being swallowed up by rage and bloodlust and obsession._ _

___You feel it, my love? Feel how it courses through you almost begging to be unleashed onto the world? Let it free. Come back to me._ _ _

__M’Baku’s skin burned hot. Memories flashed and faded. Another sky lording over an ocean. This time night with stars as bright as he’d even seen. Oni next to him as footsteps approached and voices grew louder. Kissing her. Crushing her body to his until he could make out the shadow of figures on the horizon. Oni’s eyes begging him to do what must be done. The grip of his hands on her shoulders pressing her into the lapping waves buffering against the shore. Her request for him to find her. His promise to do just that. The last wavering view of her face before the water swallowed her breath and then her life. The shadows becoming men quickly approaching. The float of Oni’s body into the sea. The explosion of voices before the world went black._ _

___Do you remember me?_ _ _

__“I do.”_ _


End file.
